7,62 x 25 mm Tokarev

7,62 x 25 mm Tokarev – A cartridge designed by Fyodor Vasilyevich Tokarev and introduced into the armament of the Red Army in 1930. The predecessor was the German 7.63 x 25 mm Mauser cartridge, but it was tuned to lower power, so Tokarev cartridges are not usable in weapons designed for 7.63 Mauser cartridges. The opposite approach is possible and was applied, e.g. during the Soviet-Finnish wars, when the Finns imported 7.63 Mauser cartridges for use in weapons captured from the Soviets. The cartridge was intended for Tokarev pistols and during the war for Spagin (PPSh-41) and Sudaev (PPS-43) submachine guns. The most common stampings on the cartridge cases of these cartridges are "T", "38" and "3".

"T" – The Tula Munitions Plant, founded on 17 May 1880. This plant produced up to a quarter of all cartridges for the Russian army during the First World War. In 1937, it was divided into two parts. Plant No. 176 continued to produce only artillery cartridges, while Plant No. 38 specialized in 7.62 mm cartridges (7.62 x 25 mm Tokarev, 7.62 x 54 mm R for rifles and ShKAS machine guns). The "38" designation referred to this plant until October 1941, when the entire plant was evacuated to the town of Yuryuzan due to the approaching front. Thus, from October 1941, the designation "38" belonged to the Yuryuzan Mechanical Plant in the Chelyabinsk Region. The Tula munitions plant resumed production in 1942, after the defeat of the Germans near Moscow. However, it continued to bear the designation "539", "T" or "ТПЗ" (TPZ - Tul'skiy patronnyy zavod). In the area surveyed by the Silesian Museum, we encounter mainly 'T' stamping or cartridges without stamping, which probably also come from the Tula plant, from the period just after the restoration of production in 1942. By the end of 1943, production had risen to 388 million pieces per year. The plant is still in operation until today.

"3" – Ulyanovsk Ammunition Plant, which was founded on 20 April 1916 in the town of Simbirsk (since 1924 Ulyanovsk). It played an important role in supplying the Red Army on the Eastern Front during the Russian Civil War (one of every three cartridges came from this plant). During World War II, the plant produced the same number of cartridges as in the previous 24 years of operation. During World War Two it produced 7.62 x 25 mm Tokarev cartridges for pistols and submachine guns, 7.62 x 38 mm Nagant cartridges for revolvers and 12.7 x 108 mm cartridges for large-calibre DShK machine guns. The plant is still in operation today.